Fredding

Status: Undetermined (is it a joke or meant seriously?)

David Mocknick has written a self-help book that describes a novel new form of stress therapy: Fredding. This involves saying the phrase "Fred! Who's Fred? Ha!" It's not clear to me whether he's serious about this, or if it's all an elaborate joke (in which getting people to think he's serious is part of the joke). An article about his book explains:

Fredding (which can be done in solitaire but works best in a group setting) begins when someone "baits" another person by getting him or her to say a word that rhymes with Fred. When the target -- a waitress in a diner who suggests bread when asked for an alternative to rolls, for example -- falls into the trap, the Fredder calls out, "Bread! Fred! Who's Fred, ha!"

Fredding strikes me as the kind of thing Alan Abel, or someone like him, would dream up. So I'm inclined to classify it as a hoax. But on the other hand, it might actually work as a stress reliever. Though if you actually did this, people would probably think you had Tourette's.

I do this sort of thing to my friends all the time. (But then again, I'm a big dork. =P)

Posted by Sakano in Ohio on Fri Jan 13, 2006 at 09:35 AM

This is just stupid.

Posted by Maegan in Tampa, FL - USA on Fri Jan 13, 2006 at 10:13 AM

Interesting, especially to me, since for many years now whenever I'm annoyed with an inaminate object, I call it Fred. (Say if my purse gets caught on a doorknob, I'll grumble, "Come here, you stupid Fred!" Or if I can't find my glove, I'll mutter, "Where is that stupid Fred!") I don't know how I got started doing that. I don't recall knowing any annoying person named Fred. Maybe it's an unconscious substitution for another four-letter word that starts with F.
But I don't do it around other people. If I drop a fork in a restaurant, I don't ask the waiter to "get that Fred for me, willya?"

Posted by aka_donna on Fri Jan 13, 2006 at 10:49 AM

Oooh, that could turn out to be really stressful if the waitress doesn't fall into the trap of saying a word that rhymes with Fred. How about toast? No. Muffins? No. Crumpets? NOOOOO!

Posted by Pixie in Germany on Fri Jan 13, 2006 at 11:10 AM

This has inspired me to develop a new form of therapy called 'Elmoing', I walk around saying "Who wants to die?"

Posted by Craig on Fri Jan 13, 2006 at 11:29 AM

Craig you crack me up!

Posted by thephrog in CA USA on Fri Jan 13, 2006 at 09:26 PM

This post turned out slightly less interesting than I first supposed. On the 1960s Jefferson Airplane "Volunteers" album the printed lyrics used the word "Fred" in place of the F-word -- though the songs were uncensored. aka_donna has the right idea.

Posted by Ed in FL on Sat Jan 14, 2006 at 12:07 PM

The name "Mocknick" is doubtless also made up. Probably it is a bastardized version of the German "Macht nichts" translated roughly as "it doesn't matter" or "no problem."

Posted by Sam on Mon Jan 16, 2006 at 09:19 AM

Not unlike aka_donna, I use "Fred" moderately often. Someone might say to me "Name the time" and I'll say "ok, it's Fred" ie, the time has been named Fred. It's one of those language pedant things.

Posted by cvirtue on Mon Jan 16, 2006 at 09:28 AM

I tried this with my five-year-old and got a big laugh out of it. However, his idea of a hillarious joke goes something like this: